Pope was injured during Mexico-Cuba trip: Vatican

Vatican City, Feb 14 (IANS/AKI) Pope Benedict XVI fell and hit his head during a March 2012 trip to Mexico, the Vatican authorities confirmed Thursday.

The Vatican's spokesperson, however, denied the incident influenced the 85-year-old pontiff's decision to abdicate.

"It was not relevant for the trip, in that it didn't affect it or the decision to resign," Federico Lombardi said.

Lombardi's comments came after Italy's La Stampa daily reported Thursday that Benedict banged his head when he got up in the middle of the night in an unfamiliar bedroom in the Mexican city of Leon, causing bleeding that stained his hair and sheets.

Benedict had taken the decision to resign after the Mexico-Cuba trip, which was physically exhausting for the pope, according to report in the Vatican newspaper L'Osservatore Romano earlier this week.

On Monday, the pope announced he would resign Feb 28, saying his age and physical frailty meant he was no longer fit to lead the world's 1.2 billion Catholics.